St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1887-04-23
INTERPRETATIONS.

About Ready to Eeport-ihfy t.'t;,,.
ommend Legislation to Correct L.
Abuses. ,.o
w.survcTOx. April "A. The Senate
finance subcommittee on undefValu"''o.,
of imports, after nearly two years 'p'n.
in Investigating the subj are ao''"'
ready to submit plan to RENE dy eA'o 'lno
abuses Senator Beck, member u ~
committees in an interview with ''
reporter. gave an insight INTO INC o'1ito 49,
problem which has 50 long cnGa9eu Wv
attention of the committee, dt" u
proposed plan for the prevention o. a"
LIBERALIZATION: Senator Beck sad;
sWc had before us an INN onse mass OF
evidence. the statement Of experts sup
ported bv figures, the data collected by
ourselves and by the departments, ara all
the propositions that have been maze "
correct the abuses. Every bill tEa'
has Icen introduced into Con
gress with relation 10 the SUP
jcct has been carefully conSldered' ana
we are now endeavorng TO fornlulate
a bill which will improve the entlrc 9E7
tenn 1t is an immense question greater"
I think. than that of the inter-St ate com
merce and more difficult to al with. y"
one can have an idea what 1t - until 'heE
get into it, 1t affect; our entire customs
system, the consular service and az IN
business interests Of the country 1hefe
is a scramble among importers, ne salo>
Ito get the valuations as low as posS1o-e.
If one can get his goods IN cheaper IMAM
his height ors, he can undcrseI them
Thus there is q constant cut-throat game
going on that affects prices all over the
country Exporters send their goods
! here marked far below their
real value, and sell them III
bond, the tran saction being conducted
on the other side There is no uniformity
of valuation. Some merchants pay one
price some another, for the same articles
and those who pay less duty can under
sell the others. And goods are rated
differently at different ports. Then the
system of merchants appraisers is bad.
You may set to-day an appraisement OF
goods for man who will tomorrow be
called upon to fix value on goods OF
yours There is likely to be a tendency
between you to be liberal with each other.
1t is asserted that merchants accOnmo-
date each other in their appraisements
We have studied the matter care
fully. and think the most important
thing is to secure an uniformity
of valuation. To have the valuation uni
form is more important even than to have
it Just. We can not have the importer
paying immense duties on hat nnlngs, for
instance at one port while the importer
at another port pays merely q nominal.
duty All the proper relations Of trade
are disturbed.
1--WE are through with our inves tigati0n
now, and in a few days viii have q meas
| ure prepared, which we will submit to the
Secretary of the Treasury for his opinion.
We were gratified yesterday, when MI.
Magone, the Collector of the port of New
York, was before us at the Capitol, to find
that his forty years experience with the
subject had led him TO about the same
conclusions we had arrived att
The Senator thus outlined the sub-com-
mittee's plan:
The measure is not fully Formulated
but our idea is to do away with merchant
appraisers and to provide for the appoint
ment of nine appraisers by the Govern
| ment. three of whom will be located per-
| manently in New York City. The other
| six will be in clarg e of other ports, and
| will make a uniform appraisement.
| The three appraisers at New York will
| act as sort of board Of appeal,
| to which questions in dispute Will be car
| red. The plan may include the construc-
| ton of government sample house, where
| the classification of goods may be de
| termlned and uniformity of valuations
! secured We want also to improve the
| consular service, so as to make it hell
! to the customs service, instead of a hin.
| drance, as it now is. We viii submit oul
general plan to the Secretary of
| the Treasury and to the collectors of
the ports of Boston, New York and Phila-
| delphia and others and will have the bill
| ready to present to the Senate as soon as
| Congress meets. The Senate wants to do
| all it can in the matter We can not do
| any thing with the rates of customs du-
| ties, though there are glaring defects.
until the House takes the first step: but
| we can help the matter along by the prep
aration of this BILL
Don Cameron the Interstate Com
merce Law,
WASHINGTON, April hi voted against
the Inter State Commerce bill,n said Don
Cameron, ''because | thought running
| railroads by act of Congress was going
| little t 90 far in the line Of governmental
| interference with private business and
| private rights. think if some of those
so-called constitutional lawyers in Con
gress had looked more to the spirit of the
| constitution and some of the coincident
| conditions when it was adopted they
| would have seen that this provision
aimed chiefly as remedy for the defects
| of the old articles of nfeIera ton which
| as every reader of even elementary
school history would know, gave each
State the right to legistate, levy duties
| and manage it's own commerce, which
naturally led to conflict confusion and
| embarrassment.
| ''The constitutional convention Of 1887
had more trouble in adjusting this rivalry
| of interest than any thing else. 1t was
| one of the elements of National authority
| to give the supreme Government the pow
| err to regulate commerce between the
| States on the same theory that it had the
| power granted it to r..ercise the supreme
| authority to regulate Intercourse with
| foreign countries. The projectors of this
apparently indefensibie misconstruction
| of the provisions Of the constitution and
| the powers of Congress will find out their